Every three seasons, the star of another Edmonton Oilers soap opera returns for an icy reunion at Rexall Place.

Now it’s Souray’s turn.

The big Alberta-born defenceman, now a key member of the playoff-chasing Dallas Stars, takes the ice in Edmonton for the first time Friday since his bitter, epic battle with Steve Tambellini two seasons ago.

“It’s hard to say how people are going to react,” said Oilers centre Sam Gagner, one of only four skaters left who played with Souray here. “I’m sure there will be some mixed reviews.”

The Souray-Tambellini showdown went from bad to worse in a hurry. He ripped on Oilers management at the end of the 2009-10 season, saying they pressured him to come back too early from a shoulder injury when he first arrived and turned their back on him when he was laid up in the hospital with a serious hand infection at the end. He said he wanted out.

When Tambellini couldn’t work a trade over the summer, Souray was prepared to bury the hatchet, but Edmonton’s brass wanted nothing to do with a reconciliation. They banned him from training camp and banished him to the AHL, loaning him to Hershey because they didn’t even want him on their farm team.

It was nasty.

“It’s a tough situation, tough on everyone,” said Ladislav Smid. “Kind of sad the way things went. He was one of our teammates.”

And now he’s back.

Where Souray’s visit ranks on this city’s sliding scale of venom remains to be seen. Pronger and Heatley rejected the city, while Souray, by all accounts, liked it here. Liked the team, liked his teammates.

The only thing he didn’t like was Tambellini, which gives him something in common with a lot of fans. So it’s hard to imagine why he’d get roasted, but you never know.

“He played hard for us,” said Sam Gagner, who, called Souray a strong and valuable teammate. “It was tough to see it go down the way it did at the end, you never like to see that. It’s good he’s been able to come back and play the way he has.”

Souray is high-maintenance, to be sure, but he brought it most nights. The Oilers, to this day, miss his mean streak and toughness on the back end.

“Great guy, I never had problems with him,” said Smid. “I actually sat next to him for a year and he was really nice to me, great guy. He was trying to help me, and obviously he’s a really good player.”

Souray played the Oilers twice before, both times in Dallas, and wouldn’t speak about his bitter divorce from the team he grew up worshipping.

“It’s something that happened in the past and I’m really not worried about it,” he said prior to their first meeting. “The world didn’t stop spinning. Life goes on.

“It seems like a long time ago for me. It’s been a couple of years since I played there. It’s been a while since I was an Oiler.”

How will he be greeted? Smid doubts it’ll be as loud as Pronger or Heatley.

“Pronger broke so many hearts here,” he said laughed. “Fans loved him, he took the team to the Stanley Cup finals.”

Souray just got in a fight with his boss.

“I’ve always enjoyed Sheldon,” said head coach Tom Renney, an associate coach to Pat Quinn during Souray’s last year. “I had him at a couple of world championships and I enjoyed standing behind him as the guy running the D here. He’s a big strong man, imposing and intimidating as heck, all those things you want in the game.

“He was always very respectful.”

It just didn’t work out here. Souray and Tambellini can both take the blame for that.

“There is always a time in a player’s situation where the cross-hairs don’t quite line up and maybe you handle it wrong and wish you had it back, or vice versa,” said Renney. “But the fact of the matter is he’s not here and he’s had a pretty good year. Good for him. Hopefully he won’t have one Friday night.”